Monday, July 26, 2010

What's in a name v.2

So what do you do if you don't like a gamer tag? If it's yours, it's easy. You change it. What if it's someone else's? If it's a random person you meet while playing and their name is offensive you can always report them. But what if it's a friend's name? And it's not offensive?

I have a friend who has changed their name a couple of times. Currently he's Quality Jim Beam. While I have nothing against the name itself I just don't know what to call him. Just like MasvHeadWndHarry his name is too long to say in the heat of a firefight. If I try to warn either one of them they would be dead before I can even finish saying their name completely. For MHWH is was easy. I just call him Massive. For QJB I didn't know what to do. Even just calling him Quality can be too long in a fire fight. I tried calling him just "Q" but I always think of Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation. And those two are nothing alike.

I also tried calling him by either of his two previous names. But the time it takes me to identify that he's about to get killed and convert the name I see on the screen into the name I want to call him might be just long enough for him to get killed without me saying anything at all. The problem is I get so wrapped up in the game that any little second to figure out what to call someone can be deadly. With Masv it's easy to see and recognize his name and call it out. For QJB I needed options. And that's when Hell Weasell stepped in.

We were playing Zombie Apocalypse when Weasell called QJB "beamer". I liked that. It's short, quick and goes with his name so I wouldn't be losing any precious mili-seconds trying to figure out what to call him. I'm sure it will take some getting use to especially since it's the last part of his name and not the first like Masv's. But I call Hell Weasell, just Weasell so I think I can adjust.

Now I hope Beamer isn't mad or insulted because I'm having problems with his name. I like him and I like the name, I just don't want to see him get killed because of my mental fumbling. And I certainly hope he doesn't feel he needs to change it on my account. Although if a lot of my friends keep changing their names I won't know who's who anymore.

If they want to spice things up then go ahead. But be warned, I just might start calling you "garlic", "paprika" or maybe even "cinnamon". Any takers?

4 comments:

QualityJimBeam said...

No problem. I'm so used to my friends calling me Dennis.I still get called Max as well. Beamer has a good ring to it. Since I drink what my gamer tag is it makes sense.

Zak said...

you could also call him by his other name, ASS, thats what Dana calls him instead of honey. I heard it all week when they were down here. ha ha ha

Helll Weasell said...

I actually thought QJB was a good idea when I read it on your blog, but "Beamer" works too. I still call him Dennis, but when we're in a room with strangers I try to use gamer tags because it's nobody's business what our real names are.

When I think of Q, I think of James Bond. I believe that's Judi Dench's role now.

Pengwenn said...

Sean Connery is the only Bond I'm interested in.

And yeah, in a room with strangers listening in I do try to use people's gamer tags (or some resemblence thereof). If I tried to call him "QJB" in a match it would probably come out as "JuJuBe". Maybe I'll just call him a spice. How does "Lemon Zest" sound?